Vitamin D deficiency

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

Hindsight, eh. I'd still take more than 1600iu/day though but 1600 is better than nothing

Do I have to go ..higher?!!

You don't HAVE to. But if you want levels over 100nmol/L (which has been shown to be very beneficial) then yes. For most people I recommend 4-5000iu/day (less if you're very lean, more if obese) plus some vitamin K2 as well to ensure calcium goes into the bones. Magnesium citrate is 1 other thing I believe almost everyone should be taking, too.

[V8covin]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

You don't HAVE to. But if you want levels over 100nmol/L (which has been shown to be very beneficial) then yes. For most people I recommend 4-5000iu/day (less if you're very lean, more if obese) plus some vitamin K2 as well to ensure calcium goes into the bones. Magnesium citrate is 1 other thing I believe almost everyone should be taking, too.

If you're out in the sun in the summer months would a fat person absorb more vit d than a lean person ?

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

V8covin said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

You don't HAVE to. But if you want levels over 100nmol/L (which has been shown to be very beneficial) then yes. For most people I recommend 4-5000iu/day (less if you're very lean, more if obese) plus some vitamin K2 as well to ensure calcium goes into the bones. Magnesium citrate is 1 other thing I believe almost everyone should be taking, too.

If you're out in the sun in the summer months would a fat person absorb more vit d than a lean person ?

Absorb is the wrong term, make/generate is probably better - in theory, yes (larger surface area) but there surface area:volume ratio is lower, so they're still deficient compared to lean people. Obese people are always lower than optimum, even in summer. Most people put lotion on, which blocks our ability to make it too, so that's worth baring in mind as to whether you choose the supplement in the summer or not. Personally I really cut my dose down in the summer, down to maybe 5000iu/week. But I spend a lot of time in the summer doing sports.

If you have a lean person and an obese person bathing in the sun, the lean person's blood levels will rise more than the obese person's.

[Jiebo]

I started Vit D about 4 years a go, and would agree that it definitely helped reduce the amount of colds / runny noses etc. I used to get them endlessly in the winter, and now nothing.

I'm genuinely confused why Vit D wasn't recommended during the pandemic. It certainly would help many peoples immune systems stay in good shape

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It has always annoyed me that the NHS and government have always said "evidence isn't strong enough" - yes, it was "correlative" all along, we didn't know whether it was "causative" - i.e. those with higher vitamin D levels generally do better, but those with low vitamin D are often obese, old etc....so were they dying BECAUSE of being low in vitamin D, or because they were obese and elderly? - we didn't know (probably both), but considering how absolutely tiny the risk for supplementing, why not just say "let's do this, it really can't hurt". Instead, they wait on vaccines which, in my opinion, haven't been as effective as was hoped regarding transmission and helping mild illness, although I'm convinced they help with severe illness.

Always made me chuckle when we were fining people for sunbathing during lockdown. They were probably helping themselves and, in turn, reducing viral-load clearing time and reducing the spread of covid

Note the study is ng/L, not nmol/L, which is what we've generally been discussing. 40ng/L is approx 100nmol/L. Last time I was checked I was 169

Jiebo said:

I started Vit D about 4 years a go, and would agree that it definitely helped reduce the amount of colds / runny noses etc. I used to get them endlessly in the winter, and now nothing.

I'm genuinely confused why Vit D wasn't recommended during the pandemic. It certainly would help many peoples immune systems stay in good shape

Tin-foil hat mode - one of our leading health experts at the time said it wasn't effective and there was no proof. He said the vaccines were the only effective treatment. Of course it didn't matter he had shares in Pfizer....

They did eventually offer it, however. The dose? 400iu! Yes, 400. A physiologically meaningless dose.

Edited by TyrannosauRoss Lex on Friday 4th February 17:46

[V8covin]

Jiebo said:

I started Vit D about 4 years a go, and would agree that it definitely helped reduce the amount of colds / runny noses etc. I used to get them endlessly in the winter, and now nothing.

I'm genuinely confused why Vit D wasn't recommended during the pandemic. It certainly would help many peoples immune systems stay in good shape

It was for a short period and adverts started popping up everywhere,on tv,on billboards,on Facebook etc.....then it all disappeared as quickly as it arrived

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

[Chris Stott]

I live in southern Spain, so get plenty of sun (300+ days/year). But Its not really warm enough to be outside without a shirt from November through April, so I take 3000iu daily…. Which seems to be enough to sustain me at decent levels.

September 9, a blood test showed levels at 115Ngml. Another test jan 28 showed exactly the same levels.

I’ve not had a cold since I moved here 2.5 years ago - used to get at least a couple every winter in the Uk. And I also seem to be immune to Covid - my wife had it with full symptoms, and despite taking no precautions & sleeping in the same bed (listening to her cough half the night) I never caught it.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Chris Stott said:

I live in southern Spain, so get plenty of sun (300+ days/year). But Its not really warm enough to be outside without a shirt from November through April, so I take 3000iu daily…. Which seems to be enough to sustain me at decent levels.

September 9, a blood test showed levels at 115Ngml. Another test jan 28 showed exactly the same levels.

I’ve not had a cold since I moved here 2.5 years ago - used to get at least a couple every winter in the Uk. And I also seem to be immune to Covid - my wife had it with full symptoms, and despite taking no precautions & sleeping in the same bed (listening to her cough half the night) I never caught it.

115ng/L, not nmol/L? If so that's high! No need to supplement for a while if you're around those sort of levels.

[Chris Stott]

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

115ng/L, not nmol/L? If so that's high! No need to supplement for a while if you're around those sort of levels.

Sorry, yes, nmol/l… 46.3ng/l.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

Chris Stott said:

TyrannosauRoss Lex said:

115ng/L, not nmol/L? If so that's high! No need to supplement for a while if you're around those sort of levels.

Sorry, yes, nmol/l… 46.3ng/l.

[guillemot]

A bit of a long shot, but anyone in here have any understanding of thyroid levels also?

[dontlookdown]

guillemot said:

A bit of a long shot, but anyone in here have any understanding of thyroid levels also?

I am not a medic, but I do have Graves disease. Ask away and if I can answer I will.

[Chris Stott]

There’s a thread on thyroid issues in the health sub forum.

I was diagnosed with Hashimotos (hypothyroidism) in October last year… it’s a been a miserable 6 months or so, but finally starting to get back to something like normal again.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[guillemot]

Thank you both - just read that thread also. Essentially I’m wondering if TSH being at upper levels of the range can have an impact.

We’ve been trying to get mum’s levels sorted after her parathyroid op a couple of years ago. Finally got a private consultant to take a look and he kicked her useless gp into the follow up bloods that should’ve been done ages ago. She’s done well, we’re in a much better place than we were before having worked through conflicting meds they gave her and supplements. But she’s whacked, still just exhausted all the time, very cold and can’t get warm and a fluctuating BP.

Her parathyroid hormone and calcium are totally dead centre. Vitamin d is 70nmol. TSH is 4.02. My sis (who has some thyroid issues) thinks her thyroid might be a contributor as that’s quite high, but that’s where my knowledge tops out so just wondering if anyone had any insight really.

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

TSH levels alone are useful but can't tell the full story. A full thyroid panel would be useful, potentially even thyroid antibody levels too to check for autoimmune. Could also do with an FBC, CRP and ESR, iron panel (not just ferritin) etc etc to get a better clinical picture.

Let's keep this thread on vitamin D though

[dontlookdown]

Her TSH is on the high side but not massively so, normal is up to 4.5 as I recall. But you have done the right thing getting to se e an endo and not GP. They dont know much as a rule. Keep seeing the endo and get a full set of bloods as TLex says.

Long term, the main thing is establishing the level at which she feels as normal as poss. Can vary a fair bit from person to person, which is where a good endo really helps.

Good luck!

Edited by dontlookdown on Sunday 27th February 12:50

[dontlookdown]

IME GP's drive the condition by only looking at the dashboard. If the dials are in the green, all is good even if you don't feel great. A good endo will also look out of the windscreen and take note of how you feel too.

[CoolHands]

I’ve just looked at the Tesco multivitamin I’m happily taking - the D3 is 5ug which I’ve just calculated is 200ig? Is this worthless ? In which case are the other included vitamins also all worthless? (They’re all 100% of the NRV). If so that’s £1.50 I’m never getting back!

[TyrannosauRoss Lex]

CoolHands said:

I’ve just looked at the Tesco multivitamin I’m happily taking - the D3 is 5ug which I’ve just calculated is 200ig? Is this worthless ? In which case are the other included vitamins also all worthless? (They’re all 100% of the NRV). If so that’s £1.50 I’m never getting back!

200iu is pretty much meaningless. The NRV is designed to help prevent really significant illness, not get you very healthy. Plus, the serious issue with NRV is that everyone's demands are different. 200iu may be enough for a younger white-skinned person who lives in a sunny climate and gets out a lot, it's nowhere near enough for a slightly overweight person in Britain during winter.